Garment supporting and display device



J1me 4 A, BECKELMAN GARMENT SUPPORTING AND DISPLAY DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 8, 1950 IN VEN TOR. ABBA/M M BECKELMAN A TOE/V5 Y June 1954 A. BECKELMAN GARMENT SUPPORTING AND DISPLAY DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 8, 1950 IN V EN TOR. 452/1144/1/ BECK ELM/1 IV BY I A77 NE) June 1954 A. BECKELMAN GARMENT SUPPORTING AND DISPLAY DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 8, 1950 IN V EN TOR. ABRAHAM 8ECKELM 1N Patented June 1, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT SUPPORTING AND DISPLAY DEVICE 15 Claims. 1

My present invention relates generally to display forms for wearing apparel, and has particular reference to a collapsible and expandible form capable of supporting an article of apparel in flat hanging condition or in extended display condition as if worn by a model.

Ordinary hangers for supporting garments such as coats, suits or dresses cause the article of apparel to hang in an unnatural, unattractive manner without exhibiting to best advantage its form and appearance when it is worn on the human body. The display of articles on such hangers does not always contribute to their attractiveness or saleablility. Expandible hangers are known which comprise a bar of common type together with a pivoted wire mechanism which isrotatable out of the plane of the bar to belly out the garment at the chest. These hangers cause the garment to occupy three dimensions rather than two, but they are objectionable in that even when expanded they merely support the garment along an additional line or two without really enhancing the resulting effect. When thus displayed, garments tend to crease at the wire contact lines and to fall into flat planes rather than into life-like curvatures.

' It is a general purpose of my invention to obviate these objections by providing a display device which is able not only 'to support garments for storage in relatively small space, but also, by expansion, to effectively exhibit them as is worn on a human model.

, Amore particular object of the invention lies in the provision of a hanger in the form of a flexible envelope which may be selectively collapsed to lie fiat or expanded to a three dimensional curved shape which simulates a part of the human body. The invention lends itself readily to the simulation of all or any of a relatively large number of parts of the body, such as the shoulders, the chest or bust, the waist and the hips.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision of a garment hanger having a collapsible and expandible body-forming envelope, and simple mechanism within the envelope for expanding and collapsing the envelope.

Still another object of the invention lies in the provision of an expandible garment hanger in which the mechanism for expanding the hanger is self-locking in its expanded state until manually released and which, when released, is collapsed bythe internal stresses in the expanded envelope itself.

A still further object of the inv nti n lies in the provision of an expandible garment display form having a stretchable area expandible to a greater degree than the adjacent area so that a body may be closely simulated even to the inclusion of pronounced body protuberances such as the female breasts.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of an expandible garment display form employing a flexible, body-forming envelope of separate parts and part extensions, each extension line being hinged to an edge of the adjacent envelope part and pairs of extensions being hinged together so as to form, when expanded, fuller and more naturally curved body portions as required, for example, at the shoulders or sides of the human form.

These objectives and such other objects, features and advantages as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, are achieved in the manner illustrated by certain preferred embodiments shown in the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a collapsed garment display form constructed in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary, crosssectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the hanger hook taken in the direction of line 33 of Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the garment display form of Figure 1, when in expanded condition;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the expanded display device showing only the uppermost portion;

Figure 6 is an elevation of a hinge pivot member or hinge axis employed in the garment display form;

Figure 7 is an elevatlonal view, similar to Figure 1, of a modified display form suitable for exhibiting skirts and the like;

Figure '8 isa fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Figure 9 is an elevation of the skirt display form of Figure '7 shown in expanded condition;

Figure 10 is a side elevation of the expanded skirt display hanger form;

Figure 11 is a cross-section taken on line i l--l l of Fig. 9;

Figure 12 is a front elevation of a modified display form suitable for exhibit of blouses or brassieres;

Figure 13 is a top plan view of the device of Figure 12 shown in expanded condition;

Figure 14 is an enlarged elevation of a bust portion of the display form shown in Figure 12; and

Figure 15 is an enlarged cross-section taken on line l5l5 of Fig. 12.

Referring to the drawings, numeral H} generally designates a hanger similar to the bar or rod hangers of conventional type. Such a hanger supports an article of apparel in relatively flat condition. The hanger may be formed of wood, plastic, metal or other suitable material. It preferably includes a center piece H in which a hook I2 is rotatably secured. The hook may be formed of wire, and it is provided with a latching stud l3 (see Fig. 3) formed by welding or otherwise securing a rod-like element in a loop thereof. The function of latch l3 will hereinafter be explained.

Rigidly embedded in or otherwise secured to the center piece 5 I are two rod-like shoulder elements Hi each of which is headed on its outer end as at I5. Elements it are preferably made of wire and act as hinge pivot support members for the expandible envelope or form now to be described.

The body-iorming envelope, generally indicated by reference numeral 26, is composed of relatively thin and resilient flexible sheet material such as plastic, fibre, metal, rubberized cloth, or the like, which may be stretched or expanded to body-simulating contour and which is capable of collapsing back to its initially flat condition by reason of the internal stresses in the material.

In Fig. l envelope 25) is shown as comprised of a front sheet 2| and rear sheet 22, each of which is provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending slits 2 3 for the purpose of increasing the flexibility so as to permit bending to a threedimensional curved shape. At the upper part of the envelope, the sheets are preferably provided at each side with a pair of front and rear shoulder extensions 24. Each extension 2 is formed on one side with hinge leaves 25 which interfit with similar leaves 26 on the adjacent edge of the front or rear sheet 2i or 22. Similar leaves 27 on the opposite side of the extension interiit with the corresponding leaves 21 of the other extension of the shoulder forming pair. The hinge leaves 21 are slideably secured about one or the other of the hanger rods i and prevented from slipping off by the rod heads i5. Each of the hinge leaves 25 and Z6 jointly receives a pivot pin 2%. Thus each member 2c of each pair of shoulder extensions is pivoted to the other on rod [4 and also hingedly secured to the front or back sheet 2| or 22 0 pivot axis 28 Along their side edges, sheets 25 and 22 are provided with two pairs of side extensions 3!), just above the waist line. Below this level are two pairs of hip extensions 31. These extensions are hinged together in pairs and the extensions of each pair are hingedly secured to the front and rear sheets of the envelope in a manner similar to that explained in connection with the shoulder extensions. The side and hip extensions are, however, different in shape so as to cooperate with the front and rear sheets in defining a body-simulating contour. The separate side and hip extensions enable the use of uniform front and rear sheets, which may be cut from a relatively narrow sheet of plastic or other sheet material, to make forms of different sizes by simply varying the sizes of the extension pieces.

The pivot members for all the hinged connections are designated by numeral 28. They differ in length in accordance with the hinge length requirement of each location. While these pins may be solid rods, it will be readily understood that they may be formed of any material suitable each other along rods 14.

for use as a pivot pin or hinge axis, and it is desirable to use a somewhat flexible material. The pivot member 28 shown in Fig. 6 is, for example, shown to be a closely wound coil of spring wire, cut to the desired length. The end turns are shown deformed for permanent securement of member 28 in the hinge. At lease one of these deformations would, of course, be formed after installation of the pivot member. Use of a flexible coil as a hinge pin or axis permits the bodyforming sheets more readily to take their curved shapes when expanded, and therefore their use in the expmided envelope results in a form more closely simulating life-like proportions.

For expanding the display form, the envelope is provided, within its confines, with a pair of to gle-jointed members 35 and 36. These members are flat sheets of suitable, stiff material. Front sheet 35 is preferably wider than rear sheet 35 and is rounded to conform to body shape at its forward envelope engaging edge 31. The rear toggle member is similarly rounded at edge 38. Each of the rounded edges 31 and 38 is flex ibly secured to the inner surface of the envelope front and rear sheets, respectively, by means of a hinge panel (39 and 9) and a hinge axis 28. Hinge panel 39 is preferably secured to sheet 2| at a higher level than that of hinge panel 40. The toggle joint securing the members 35 and 36 together is also preferably formed as a hinge, illustrated at M, but this hinge is provided with a rigid pivot 42.

For moving the toggle joint or knee 4|, there may be provided a rod-like operating member 45 having a hooked upper end 46 and a latching loop 13?. The lower end of rod 35 is pivotally attached to the knee :2! of the toggle joint so as to raise the knee when hook 4'? is elevated. This motion causes the toggle members 35 and 35 to move from a flat superposed position (illustrated in slightly spread condition in Fig. 2) to substantially aligned positions as shown in Fig. 4. During this movement outward pressure is applied to the envelope 28 by the rounded edges 31 and 38 of the toggle members. This forces the envelope front and rear sides outwardly, spreading them to an expanded body-simulating condition as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The outward spreading of the front and rear envelope sheets causes the side edges, which are ecured together by the hip and side extensions,

to pull inwardly and open the form into a substantially curved shape, while at the same time the shoulder extensions open and slide toward The opening of hinged extensions 24 results in a full, well rounded shoulder shape in the expanded form (see Fig. 4) and avoids formation of sharp, crease-forming shoulder edges. This is also true of the side and hip extensions.

The shape and positioning of the various extensions with respect to the front and rear sheets are such as to produce a pair of arm openings 48, and smaller openings 49 at waist level, and to increase the size of the chest and pinch in the waist, thus heightening the life-like proportions of the display device. The fully expanded envelope is a well-rounded form having full shoulders, an expanded chest or bust, a pinched-in waist and rounded hips extending outwardly below the waist line. It is apparent that such a form will attractively support and exhibit a garment nearly as well as if worn by a live model.

It will be observed in Fig. 4 that the toggle members 35 and 36 which have been moved into alignment, or slightly beyond, by elevation of the rod and toggle knee 4|, are self-locked in such position by the resilient pressure of the expanded envelope. However as an added latching feature the rod loop 41 may be hooked around stud l3 on member l2 to prevent accidental downward movement of rod 45.

When it is desired to collapse the form, the rod 45 is unlatched from i3 and moved downwardly to lower the toggle knee 4|. This movement will be aided by the pressure of the envelope walls 2! and 22, so that the device quickly collapses to its initial flat form as illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 7 through 11 there are shown several views of a modified garment support suitable for displaying a skirt or the like. In this device the bar hanger is designated 59, and is centrally provided with a hook 5| and a latching aperture 52. The lower open portion of the bar is traversed by a straight rod 53 which slideably supports the envelope.

In the modified device the envelope is formed of only two sheets, a front sheet 55 and a rear sheet 56, each of a height corresponding to that between the waistline and the hipline. The sheets are hingedly secured together at each side by means of hinge pins 57 formed of wire and having looped upper ends 58 extending above the sheets and slideably supported by rod 53. Sheets 55 and 56 are slit at 59 to lend flexibility, and

the hinge pins 51 extend at an angle so that the envelope will open to a form having a smaller diameter at the waistline than at the hipline.

Toggle members 69 and 6| are provided between front and rear sheets 55 and 56. These are toggle-jointed at 62 by means of hinge pin 63 which initially is positioned above the ends of the toggle members which are secured to the envelope. This latter securement is accornplished by means of hinge panels 64 and 95 and hinge pins 28 similar to those previously described in Figs. 1 and. 2.

An operating rod 65 is pivotally secured to the toggle knee, centrally of the toggle members, as

illustrated at B1 in Fig. 11. The rod is initially disposed at an angle, extending toward one end of support rod 53 over which it is slideably looped. The upper end of the operating rod is bent to form a latching projection 69. When the upper end of rod 56 is grasped between loop 69 and projection 99 it may be slideably moved along and toward the center of support rod 53. Such movement will depress the toggle knee B3 and spread the envelope side walls 55 and 56 into a rounded form simulating the portion of the body between waist and hips. During the opening movement hinge pins 5? slide along the support rod 53 toward each other as shown in Fig. 9 and tend to somewhat constrict the waistline. The form may be latched in open position by inserting projection 69 of the operating rod into latching recess 52. To collapse the display form it is only necessary to release projection 69 and start moving the rod along support 53 to raise the knee of the toggle. As soon as the toggle members are out of alignment the envelope walls will force them toward parallelism and the form will resume its initial collapsed condition.

Another modified display form is illustrated in Figs. 12-14.. This form is similar to that shown in Fig. 1 except that the lower hip portions and side extensions are omitted, leaving the form suitable for display of articles such as blouses, brassieres and the like. In this form the hanger |2 including shoulder rods l4, together with the envelope shoulder extensions, may be substantially identical with those described and shown in Fig. 1.

The envelope comprises a front sheet 10 and a rear sheet H which, when flattened, curves downwardly and outwardly at 13 to provide arm openings and a chest or bust line in the expanded form. Below the widest portion, the sheet edges are angled inwardly and downwardly to a waist level and along these edges the sheets are hinged together by means of hinge pins i4.

To create a more life-like effect the envelope is provided with stretchable bust forming areas indicated generally at 15. This may be done in several ways, as by inclusion of patches of inherently stretchable material or by the provision of cuts or slits in the envelope wall which enable expansion to the desired shape. Fig. 14 is an enlarged view of one such pattern of slits suitable for creating, when expanded, a life-like breast contour. It will be observed that in this preferred embodiment the sheet in is provided with a series of interrupted cuts or slits 16 which define a center disc 11 surrounded by concentric rings 18, 18, an and 8|. Each of these parts is connected to the adjacent ring, or to sheet 19, by flexible strips 84 at spaced points corresponding to the aforesaid interruptions. The strips are formed by additional cuts designated 82 and 83'which define small segments of rings included within each concentric ring and which permit extension of the rings from the plane of sheet 10, whether in flat or curved condition, to protruding positions as shown in Fig. 13. When collapsed the rings and connecting strips fold back into the flat plane of sheet 10.

For expandind the form and protruding the bust areas, a pair of toggle jointed members 90 and 9| and an actuating rod 45 may be employed. The rear member 90 is secured to the forward member 9| by a hinged toggle joint 92 having a pivot pin 93. Member 90 is hingedly secured to sheet H by means of hinge plate 94 and binge pin 95. Member 9| is preferably formed with a pair of generally triangular protuberances 9B. The apex of each part 96 is hingedly secured to the inner surface of a center disc I! by a short hinge plate 9'! and a short hinge pin 98, as best shown in Fig. 15. Member 9| is also formed with relatively short curved edges 99 and I99 adjacent to the triangular projections 96 which press the envelope front wall 10 outwardly so as to simulate body curvature.

It will be noted that lifting of operating rod 45 elevates the toggle joint and expands the envelope to body conforming shape while at the same time projections 96 of the front toggle member stretch the bust areas outwardly to protruding condition relative to the adjacent curved front surface 19. Upon release and lowering of the rod 45, the envelope, including the bust areas, collapses into a flattened condition. 4

To operate any of the display forms illustrated, a garment such as a dress, blouse, skirt or'coat is draped over the hanger and hung therefrom in the usual manner. A large number of articles to be displayed may be hung in this way in a relatively small space. When it is desired to exhibit a particular article, the hanger may be removed from the rack in the storage space and the operating rod lifted or otherwise moved, as previously described, to expand the envelope into body-simulating form. The expansion of the form will fill out the article of apparel and effectively display it as if worn on a live model. When the garment has been adequately exhibited, the operating rod is unlatched or moved to collapse the form. The garment and form will resume their initial flat condition and may again be stored in the restricted space.

It is apparent that the described display forms fulfill a need for a garment display device which may be readily collapsed or expanded, and which when expanded produces a well rounded full figure including shoulders, bust, back, waist and hips which closely approach actual body proportions and contours.

It will be understood that those skilled in the art may make modifications in the shape, size and details of the exemplified embodiments without necessarily departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention and illustrated its use, what is claimed to be new and sought to be protected by grant of Letters Patent is:

1. A display device for supporting an article of wearing apparel comprising a bar hanger, a pair of flexible body-forming sheets supported thereon and secured together along portions of their side edges, a pair of members between said sheets and secured together in a toggle joint, the unsecured ends of said members being flexibly connected to said sheets, and a rod for moving said toggle joint to apply outward pressure upon said sheets to spread them from a flat collapsed condition in the plane of the bar to a curved body-simulating condition extending laterally of said plane.

2. A garment display device as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said toggle jointed memhers is flat and provided with a convexly rounded edge, said rounded edges being the ones which are flexibly secured to said body forming sheets.

3. A garment display device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said toggle jointed members are of difierent size and are hingedly secured to the body-forming sheets at different levels whereby the expanded body-forming sheets are spread in varying degree by said toggle jointed members.

4. A garment display device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said body forming sheets are formed with support areas slideably hinged to said bar hanger, whereby movement of the jointed members to spread said sheets causes said support areas to slide toward each other along said hanger.

5. A garment display device constructed as set forth in claim 1 wherein said body-forming sheets are resiliently flexible and inherently tend to return to flattened condition, and said toggle jointed members are movable by said rod to a selflocking position in which the members have moved through and slightly beyond a plane of alignment so that the body-forming sheets are locked in spread body-simulating form notwithstanding the collapsing force inherent in the resiliency of said sheets.

6. A garment display device constructed as set forth in claim 1 wherein said bar hanger and said rod for moving the toggle joint are provided with cooperating means for latching the joint in a sheet spreading position.

'7. A display device for supporting wearing apparel, comprising a body-forming flexible envelope, said envelope being formed of front and rear fiat sheet members and means securing them together along side edge portions thereof, said securing means including a pair of flat lateral extensions of said members hinged together, each extension being also separately hinged to the corresponding one of said members, and means on the inside of said envelope for spreading said sheet members apart to expand said envelope to body-simulating form.

8. A display device for supporting wearing apparel comprising a normally collapsed bodyforming flexible envelope expandible to a curved body-simulating form, said envelope being formed of front and rear sheets, and hinges for securing these sheets along side edge portions thereof, said hinges comprising flexible pivot members formed of closely coiled wire springs, said pivot members being adapted to flex laterally upon expansion of said envelope.

9. A supporting and display device for wearing apparel comprising a bar hanger, a bodyforming flexible envelope supported on the bar and normally collapsed into flat overlying sheets in the plane of the bar, means within the envelope for expanding the envelope to a curved bodysimulating form extending laterally of said plane, a portion of said envelope being stretchable from a fiat sheet to an expanded condition in which it projects beyond the contour of the adjacent envelope area to simulate a body protuberance, and means associated with said first-named means for expanding said stretchable portion to its projecting condition when said envelope is being expanded.

10. A display device as set forth in claim 9 wherein said stretchable portion of the envelope includes a slitted area to permit expansion to a protruding condition.

11. A display device as set forth in claim 9 wherein said stretchable portion of the envelope is formed by a series of concentric rings separated from each other by slits and each connected to the adjacent ring by a plurality of flexible strips.

12. A display device as set forth in claim 9 wherein said means for expanding the envelope and its stretchable portion comprise a pair of toggle jointed members flexibly secured to the envelope, each of said members having an envelope engaging edge and a protrusion from one of said edges in engagement with the stretchable portion of the envelope for expanding said portion to its projecting condition.

13. A supporting and display device for wearing apparel comprising a bar hanger, a flexible body-forming envelope supported thereon and normally collapsed into flat overlying sheets in the plane thereof, said envelope being shaped to provide, when expanded laterally of said plane, a rounded body-simulating form comprising shoulders, back, chest, waist and hips, the shoulder and side portions of the envelope adjacent the waist being formed by pairs of extension members, each pair hinged together and each member being separately hinged to a corresponding edge of the envelope, a pair of toggle jointed flat elements hingedly secured to the envelope and disposed flatwise between said overlying sheets in the collapsed condition of the envelope, and an operating member attached to the toggle joint of the elements for moving the joint to apply outward pressure on said envelope to expand it to body-simulating form.

14. A display device for supporting an article of wearing apparel, comprising a pair of flexible body-forming sheets secured together along portions of their side edges, a pair of members between said shteets and secured together in a toggle joint, the outer ends of said members being flexibly connected to said sheets, and an actuating member articulated to said toggle joint in the hinged region thereof for moving said toggle joint to apply outward pressure upon said sheets to spread them from a fiat collapsed condition to a curved body-simulating condition.

15. A display device for supporting wearing apparel, comprising a normally collapsed bodyforming envelope composed of flexible flat overlying sheets hingeclly connected at their side edges, and a collapsible spreading instrumentality on the inside of said envelope for pressing outwardly upon said sheets to spread them apart 10 collapsible spreading instrumentality comprising 15 a pair of articulated spreadable members selectively actuatable to effect expansion or collapse of said body-forming envelope.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 188,402 Palm Mar. 17, 1877 1,156,246 Moschcowitz Oct. 12, 1915 1,247,663 Gereke Nov. 27, 1917 1,332,146 Riordan et al. Feb. 24, 1920 1,404,803 Spilsbury Jan. 31, 1922 1,447,372 Bailey Mar. 6, 1923 2,384,495 Shafarman Sept. 11, 1945 

